Most Universal Video Format
 

What video format do I use when I encode to ensure the most people possible can play it without the need for plugins and weird codecs? I've been to many sites that require all types of codecs and other players to view their videos which I don't consider very user friendly.

we use wmv

FLV hands down is most universal over 97% of all surfers have flash :)

What is the fastest way to batch encode all my stuff to flv? I have stuff in mpeg, avi, mov and wmv formats right now.

Episode Pro is the best app for batch encoding FLV on the PC. It has cluster capabilities too.

I use Apple Compressor with Adobes own codec on our cluster.

What about loss of quality or file size by putting everything in .flv format ? Some stuff on youtube is of horrible quality. By compressor you mean using final cut studio and just selecting .flv as the export format ?

Well quality loss has more to do with the source video that the codec used to compress. If your source video is already compressed than your finished video can only look so good. We can make a great looking FLV file even for youtube when we have access to the uncompressed source in either DV/HDV tape or DVD.

By Compressor I mean apples stand alone compression software for batch encoding video on one or several machines in a cluster environment. :)